How to copy data from one WordPress website to another in Plesk

WordPress Toolkit is a management interface that allows you to install, configure, and manage WordPress in Plesk easily. In this article, we’ll show you how to copy data from one WordPress website to another in Plesk. Start out by accessing your Plesk control panel through your HostPapa Dashboard

Please note that WordPress Toolkit can install, configure, and manage WordPress version 4.9 and later, and the extension is free with the Web Pro and Web Host Plesk editions. It’s available for a fee for the Web Admin edition. 

How to copy data from one WordPress website to another 

You can copy the content of your WordPress website (including files and database) to another WordPress website. 

You may want to copy data for one of the following reasons: 

  • You want to copy changes you made to the staging version of your website to the production version. 
  • You want to copy the data from the production website to the staging website to see how changes work with the production data. 
  • You’ve made some changes to the staging website which resulted in new tables being added to the database, and you want to push the changes to the production website. 
  • You’ve upgraded the staging website to a newly released version and fixed post-upgrade issues, and want to push these changes to the production website. 
  • You can choose to copy WordPress files, database or both the files and the database.

When copying, keep the following in mind: 

  • The selected data is copied from the source website to the target website, and any files and/or database tables present on both the source and target that aren’t identical are copied from the source to the target. Files and database tables only present on the target aren’t affected unless you select the Remove missing files option when copying.
  • The target website will enter maintenance mode during copying and become temporarily unavailable.
  • If the WordPress version on the target website is earlier than on the source website, WordPress Toolkit will upgrade WordPress on the target website first to match the version installed on the source website and then run the copying.  
  • If the WordPress version on the source website is earlier than on the source website, copying will be aborted. You’ll need to upgrade WordPress on the source to the version installed on the target or a later version to copy data.
  • If the database prefix on the source and the target are different, WordPress Toolkit will change the database prefix on the target website to match that on the source during copying.
  • Copying data between a standard installation and a multisite one is not supported, and we recommend that you use cloning instead.

Note: During copying, files and database tables are copied from the source and overwrite those present on the target. Changes to the files and database tables on the target before copying will be discarded and lost without warning.

If you have caching plugins installed on a WordPress website you want to copy, clear the cache on the source website before copying. Otherwise, the target website may work incorrectly.

To copy data from one website to another, follow these steps: 

1. Go to WordPress.

How to copy data from one WordPress website to another in Plesk

2. Click Copy Data on the card of the WordPress installation with the data you want to copy.

How to copy data from one WordPress website to another in Plesk 1

3. Under Data to Copy, select the data you want to copy to the target WordPress website:

  • Files Only: copies only the website files, including WordPress core files and files related to themes and plugins. Note: By default, the htaccess, web.config, and wp-config.php files aren’t copied because modifying them may disrupt WordPress operation. The Plesk administrator can make the Copy wp-config.php option available to you. In this case, the information related to the database won’t be copied, preventing the target WordPress installation from becoming corrupted. Custom settings in the wp-config.php file on the target will be overwritten with those from the source.
  • Database Only: copies only the database – you can choose to import all, new, or selected database tables. 
  • Files and Database: copies both the website files and the database – you can choose to import all, new, or selected database tables. 

How to copy data from one WordPress website to another in Plesk 2

4. If you select Files Only or Files and Database, two more options will become available: 

  • Replace files modified on target: by default, if a file with the same name exists both on the source and target, the file from the source will be copied and will replace the file on the target, even if the source file is older. Clear the checkbox to prevent overwriting files on the target with older files from the source. 
  • Remove missing files: If a file exists on the target but not the source, the file will be untouched by default. Select this checkbox if you want to remove files on the target missing from the source.

How to copy data from one WordPress website to another in Plesk 4

If you selected Database only or Files and Database, select the database tables you want to copy: 

  • All Tables (default): if you want to copy all changes except for pages, posts, and users, keep Except: _postmeta, _posts, _usermeta, _users selected
  • New tables only 
  • Selected tables: click Select tables to copy, select the tables you want to copy, then click Select 

WordPress Toolkit suggests that you create a restore point before copying data. You can use it to roll back the changes you made while copying. If you don’t want to create a restore point, clear the Create a restore point checkbox. Note: Each WordPress installation can only have one. Creating a restore point will overwrite the existing restore point if any.

When satisfied with the selected option, click Start to begin copying data.

If you need help with Plesk, please open a support ticket from your dashboard.

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